


All too easy

by harrythestag



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, I've never tagged anything bare with me, Minor Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald, Missing Scene, Pre-Movie 1: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-20 02:07:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17613404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harrythestag/pseuds/harrythestag
Summary: Years of searching have finally paid off. Grindelwald has found the Elder Wand. His only regret is that Dumbledore is not at his side when he claims it.





	All too easy

**Author's Note:**

> I have written this before the Fantasic Beasts movies were even announced. The translation into English is brand-new however and I feel like I had to look up about every second word for this. I hope it didn't end up full of contextual errors. (If so, tell me)

* * *

  


The house was the last of the humble village before the looming forest. It formed its own little barrier against the blackness of the trees, but could not quite keep the darkness at bay. Heavy rainclouds were obscuring the moon that night, blackening the shadows that were staining the house and its small garden.

Gellert Grindelwald kept close to them.

His pale face the only thing visible through the darkness, he left the shelter of the firs. His walk was purposeful, yet by no means hasty. He had time. Gregorovitch would not see or hear him, for the wandmaker had rested his work for the evening; Grindelwald had been watching him from the thicket of the woods as he rose from his workplace, extinguished the light of his study and withdrew into another part of his home.

Murmuring words under his breath to lift the protection spells that were placed around the premises, Grindelwald approached the rear side of the house quite unperturbed. When the light of the moon briefly fought its way through the dense clouds and dimly illuminated the garden, Grindelwald paused in the shadow of a modest tool shed. There was no real need for caution, however. Even if Gregorovitch became aware of him at the wrong moment Grindelwald would still get what he had come for.

He lifted his right hand and pointed his old willow wand at the window of the study on the first floor. A soft click, and it swung open. Listening for any sign of Gregorovitch returning to his work room, Grindelwald remained in the shadows for another moment. But all was quiet. Even the dark forest behind him did not betray any of the usual sounds that indicated the presence of life. No snapping of twigs, no small animals rustling the underbrush, the trees tranquil and reverent. Gripped by a sudden rush of assumption Grindelwald wondered whether this night might go down into history as the beginning of a new era, an even greater event than the day Nicolas Flamel discovered the Philosophers Stone or Vlad Chernobog marched his army of acromantulas and giants against the muggle warlords. He liked the idea, there was no denying it, and something more than excitement took him – a kind of certainty that made him almost ecstatic at the thought. At last, after years of research and hunting for it … the Elder Wand almost in his grasp!

A deep rumble of thunder disrupted the quiet and Grindelwald shuddered as an unexpectedly fierce gust of wind penetrated his coat. Raindrops began to fall, first tentative and hesitant, but soon the rain became heavier, urging him on.

A single leap, helped along with a bit of magic, landed him on the windowsill. For a few seconds Grindelwald struggled for balance, then he soundlessly slid into the room. "Lumos", he muttered and immersed his surroundings into a cold, white light.

The room was more workshop than study. Shelves were overflowing with boxes of half-finished wands, material and delicate instruments, the walls plastered with intricate diagrams, hastily scribbled notes and rough sketches. The clutter on the workbench in the middle of the room barely left an inch of the solid wood free.

Grindelwalds steps were calm and deliberate as he approached the table. Eyes closed against distractions he let his right hand hover through the air above it and reached out with senses usually denied to even the most talented of witches and wizards. There was magic in the wand woods and core substances that lay strewn on the workbench, though only vague and confused, of no use. Slowly he moved on, towards a shelf to his right that stretched from floor to ceiling. Here, the atmosphere changed; a lightly stirring energy, bound to wands yearning for a master. How Grindelwald longed to free them of their padded prisons. The magic he could coax out of them, so elegant and complete, unparalleled but by one.

But here also not a trace of what he was after.

The same with the other shelves, the grey walls and the dusty, well-trodden floorboards: not the slightest indication of magical concealment or illusion. Nowhere in the room could he detect even the vaguest suggestion of the Elder Wand.

He was not surprised, let alone discouraged. Grindelwald had never really expected the Hallow to be anywhere but at the side of its current master.

Hurried footsteps on the ground floor, up the stairs, closer and closer. Grindelwald stepped back towards the window. This would not take long. The Elder Wand was being brought to him and he did not even have to leave the room to get it.

The door was flung open and struck the wall. The wandmaker charged into the room but before he could so much as take a breath the red flash of a Disarming Spell hit him. Grindelwald almost pitied Gregorovitch at how willingly the Elder Wand let itself be ripped from the old mans grasp. He caught it effortlessly and savored for a moment the warm, auspicious feeling as the wand chose him as its new master, the wordless promise of triumph, might and _Greatness_. The most powerful of the Deathly Hallows had pledged allegiance to him and together they would be leaders to the revolution.

A shame that Albus what not at his side in this moment, witness to the first step towards their goal. How intoxicating his pride and exaltation would have been!  
... but no, alas. The idle wish of a lover. Grindelwald could well guess at how disgusted Albus would have been by the manner in which he had acquired the Hallow - through theft and force.

_But do you not understand, Albus? It is all for the Greater Good! For all those who have to live in hiding, like your poor sister -_

Perhaps it was the thought of little Ariana that kept Grindelwald from casting the killing curse. Instead he struck the wandmaker with a silent Stunning Spell and Gregorovitch fell where he stood. Grindelwald hardly noted it. He was looking down at the Elder Wand, his eyes full of wonder and anticipation at the things that were to come.

His old wand he slipped into a deep pocket of his coat. The Hallow changed from his left hand to his right. With a final glance back he stepped onto the windowsill. As he leapt into the darkness rain lashed against his skin and a strong wind tore at his clothes, but he didn't care. Even as he was falling he disapparated, on to new missions and greater deeds.


End file.
